EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO JANUARY 16, 2013, 2:17 PM 5339
The National Education Association, the nation’s largest teacher’s union, is wholeheartedly behind President Obama’s proposal to fund more armed school resource officers as part of his comprehensive gun violence package announced Wednesday.

The full-throated endorsement came just a day after the NEA released a statement rejecting the National Rifle Association’s proposal to put more guns in schools following the Newtown, Conn., shooting.

NRA supporters have said the White House plan is similar to the NRA’s. So why the opposition to one plan and support for the other? TPM asked NEA Director of Advocacy and Outreach Kim Anderson to explain.

“There’s a huge distinction between the NRA proposal and what the administration has proposed,” she said. “The NRA proposed arming educators and volunteer security guards and private security personnel. The school resource officer program is an actual program that was funded a number of years ago by Joe Biden’s bill to put law enforcement — actual police offers — in schools after they’ve received adequate training.”